Another fantastic event!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who took part in the 2016 Ribble Valley Ride on Sunday 12 June, organised by the Rotary Clubs of Accrington and Clitheroe. Despite the forecast, the weather was wonderful (almost) throughout, and over 460 cyclists enjoyed a great day out in the Ribble Valley and Yorkshire Dales, raising £000’s for the Rosemere Cancer Foundation, Dan’s Trust and the North West Air Ambulance Service.

The move to our sponsors’ new home at The Fell Bike and Tri Superstore in Clitheroe was well-received, with lots of space both inside and out. We were even joined by professional cyclist, TV commentator and Olympic medallist Rob Hayles, who rode the 25-mile route and spend the day chatting with other riders and even mending a few bikes.

As always the food was plentiful and delicious (almost) and enjoyed by all, but perhaps Bill Honeywell regretted his rider briefing remarks when he challenged cyclists to eat as much as they could – the first stop at Stainforth came close to running out! Grateful thanks to all the sponsors and home bakers who helped with the supply of enough to feed the 500(0)!

Overall things went smoothly, except that the tricky descent from Kidstone Pike and some wet under-tree conditions near West Marton caught out one or two riders. A glitch on the GPS route files also caused about four participants to miss the final food stop in Gargrave – simple human error for which we apologise and hope those caught out weren’t too devastated to miss the last few pork pies.

Back at The Fell we thought at one stage that the Air Ambulance was about to make a surprised landing, but in fact it had been called to a suspect heart-attack at the Sunday car boot sale on the adjoining site! Our medical man Simon dashed over to help but was soon back, patient OK.

The new massage service this year, courtesy of Whalley Physiotherapy, was really popular. All the ladies volunteered their time for free and donations received will go to the Rosemere Cancer Foundation. The other USP at the finish was of course the fabulous bacon butties provide this year by Alan Hacking, and the results service was as slick as ever, thanks to Chris Roberts and SportIdent / SiEntries.

A BIG thank you again to everyone who took part – all the people involved in the organisation, the marshals, all our generous sponsors, the cyclists and everyone else who helps to make the Ribble Valley Ride the MUST-DO cycle sportive in the North West.

We would really appreciate it if you could leave a review by posting a comment on the website or better still, if you could follow this link – http://www.cyclosport.org/7236/rate-event.html – to the Cyclosport website and leave a comment there.

And of course we hope to see everyone back again in 2017 – watch this space!